Rea Signs with Kawasaki for Another 2 Years
Reigning Champions to remain together in 2017 and 2018
The most successful partnership on the grid in 2015 is set to continue for another two years as Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki Racing Team sign up for 2017 and 2018. Rea, who won the title with Kawasaki in his first year in the team, also leads the current Championship standings by a 35 point margin and has won 19 races with the outfit since the beginning of last season.
“I am so happy to extend this partnership with the Kawasaki Racing Team and continue the great relationship I have with all the Kawasaki engineers and fans,” said Rea. “It is clear that our objectives and way of working are very well matched so it makes perfect sense to extend this for two more seasons. With all the incredible memories we have made so far and are now creating, I am 100% confident that we will enjoy working together and develop the Ninja ZX-10R into the future. I would like to thank Kawasaki and all the KRT staff for their full support and belief in my potential. With this in mind I am now even more focused than ever to win the WorldSBK Championship in 2016 to make it back to back wins.”
Rea is the current points leader in the 2016 title chase and has won 5 races so far as he attempts to defend his crown and win back to back Championships. After a record-breaking start to the partnership with KRT in 2015, the strength of the pairing makes them a key benchmark on the WorldSBK grid.
“We have now two great riders in KRT,” added Team Manager Guim Roda. “Two World Champions and the goal is to keep them for the next two years. Rea is an experienced rider with a young spirit and big motivation, open to learning and improving race-by-race. This gives us even greater potential to have an even better rider in two years’ time. His big credit in this KRT project is to give us the pressure to give the best to him. I know clearly that the mechanics, crew, technicians, team staff and all KHI engineers will do our best to cover his expectations.”
Rea will be pushing his Ninja to the limit once more this weekend at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, as the WorldSBK paddock touch down near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur for Round 6 and the reigning Champion sets his sights on victory once more.
